Posts Tagged ‘Somerset chess’

Devon beat Hampshire 12½-3½ at Ilchester Town Hall, a margin that belies the toughness of the encounter. However, it was Devon’s strength in depth that made the difference, demonstrated by the fact that Devon’s lower half scored 7-1. The details were: (Devon names first in each pairing).

The Somerset captain reports on their match against Hampshire at Mere on Saturday. The final score of 12 – 4 to Somerset looks like a crushing defeat for Hants, but it was far from that, apparently, as many games were keenly contested until late on. However, the fact that Somerset out-graded their opponents by, on average, 11 points on every board, made it likely that the stronger team on paper would pull through.

The next big event is the Bristol Spring Congress on the weekend of 11th – 13th April. Details from G. Mill-Wilson on 0779 0167415 or e-mail tugmw@blueyonder.co.uk. This is followed by the WECU Championship and congress in Exmouth. Details from Meyrick Shaw on 01395-275494 or e-mail: meyrick.shaw@hotmail.co.uk.

In this game from last year’s event, a former WECU Champion loses out in a lively game.

Somerset have been in all-conquering form of recent years but on Saturday they were unable to overcome Cornwall, having to be satisfied with an 8-8 draw. The Cornish lost on the top 4 boards by 3-1 and the same on the bottom 4 boards, but remarkably scored 6 of the 8 points available on boards 5 – 12, to level things up. The details were: (Somerset names first).

1. J. Rudd 1-0 M. Hassall.

2. P. Chaplin ½-½ J. Menadue.

3. D. Littlejohns 1-0 M. Csuri.

4. M. Richardt ½-½ S. Bartlett.

5. B. Morris 0-1 D. Saqui.

6. C. Purry ½-½ L. Retallick.

7. A. F. Footner 0-1 G. Healey.

8. D. Painter-Ko 0-1 T. Slade.

9. J. E. Fewkes 1-0 C. Sellwood.

10. G. N. Jepps 0-1 G. Trudeau.

11.A. Champion ½-½ J. Nicholas.

12.M. Baker 0-1 J. Wilman.

13.D. Freeman 1-0 R. Smith.

14.N. N. Senior ½-½ D. J. Jenkins.

15.R. Knight 1-0 M. Richards.

16.C. Strong ½-½ D. R. Jenkins.

Cornwall’s previous match, against Hampshire, resembled a comedy of errors. A combination of illness and misunderstandings led to them arriving without any chess clocks, and their opponents turned up so late they would have been defaulted had there been any clocks. Eventually, some clocks were acquired locally and after lengthy negotiations between the two captains a match was played over 12 boards, which Cornwall won 7-5. However, it took several weeks of protracted discussion between interested parties before the result was finally agreed.

The details were as follows (Cornwall names first):-

1. M. Hassall v D. Tunks (did not play).

2. J. Menadue 1-0 T. Davis.

3. R. Kneebone 0-1 D. Fowler.

4. S. Bartlett ½-½ G. Jones.

5. D. Saqui 1-0 C. Priest.

6. L. Retallick ½-½ A. Manning.

7. T. Slade ½-½ Miss G. Moore.

8. G. Healey 1-0 B. Kocan.

9. C. Sellwood ½-½ S. Le Fevre.

10.G. Trudeau 0-1 J. Young.

11. J. Nicholas 1-0 R. Ashmore.

12. R. Smith 1-0 J. Barnett.

13. D. Lucas 0-1 S. Murphy.

Cornwall’s website has been recently upgraded (cornwallchess.org.uk), and on it one can read, amongst other things, a fuller report on the match by their new match captain, Professor David Jenkins, together with his amusing and erudite Cornish chess adaptation of Henry V’s call to arms at the Battle of Agincourt, as imagined by Shakespeare. As Cornwall are doing so well lately, it must be working. Devon had better beware when they meet at Saltash in January.

In their annual match in the WECU Inter-County Championship, Somerset were weakened by the absence of their top player, Jack Rudd and team Captain, Ben Edgell, both attending a crucial ECF meeting. Any pre-match hopes that Devon might have nurtured about the possibility of a rare win were stoked by the fact that they outgraded their opponents on every single one of the 28 boards. Added to that, Somerset gifted their opponents an early point after a few minutes, when Darren Freeman blundered a piece on move 5 and resigned immediately, creating what must surely be the shortest game in the history of the competition. What an opportunity!

However, it was all downhill for Devon from then onwards as they contrived to lose game after game using a variety of methods; weak opening moves, blunders losing a piece or overstepping the time control. Somerset won 9 of the top 11 games, a remarkable sequence. The concession of 3 losses on the lower boards did little to lighten the gloom for Devon. There was an impressive performance by a Somerset newcomer, Matthew J. Payne, recently enrolled at Bath University and formerly of Worthing and a product of the Sussex Juniors chess machine. His grade of 184 is 12 points up from his January grade, indicating he’s on a steep upward trajectory, backed up by his 195 rapidplay grade. He’s one to watch.

Devon’s U-160 team fared much better, losing only 2 of their 12 games, and running out 8 – 4 winners.

Devon 1

Grd

Somerset 1

Grd

1

D. Mackle

204

0

1

P. Krzyzanowski

197

2

A. K. Boyne

197

0

1

P. E. Chaplin

190

3

J. K. Stephens

190

0

1

D. P. Littlejohns

186

4

S. J. Homer

188

0

1

M. J. Payne

184

5

Dr. T. Paulden

186

0

1

A. V. Wong

181

6

P. Medina

180

1

0

C. S. Purry

177

7

K. J. Hurst

184

0

1

A. F. Footner

176

8

Dr. D. Regis

176

1

0

J. E. Fewkes

163

9

A. W. Brusey

181

0

1

G. N. Crockart

162

10

Dr. J. Underwood

172

0

1

P. W. Cusick

159

11

B. W. R. Hewson

165

0

1

G. N. Jepps

156

12

J. Fraser

163

1

0

D. Peters

156

13

T. F. Thynne

165

1

0

A. W. Champion

156

14

P. Brooks

167

0

1

M. R. Baker

152

15

G. Body

160

1

0

D. Freeman

151

16

S. Martin

162

½

½

N. N. Senior

149

Totals

5½

10½

Devon U-160

Somerset U-160

1

J. G. Gorodi

159

1

0

C. J. S. McKinley

148

2

M. Stinton-Brown.

158

1

0

R. D. Knight

148

3

A. S. Kinder

150

0

1

C. M. Strong

144

4

I. S. Annetts

152

½

½

T. West

138

5

B. G. E. Gosling

151

½

½

U. Effiong

137

6

J. Duckham

146

1

0

G. Daniel

137

7

J. S. Murray

148

½

½

R. Challoner

136

8

K. P. Atkins

142

0

1

C. Fewtrell

130

9

R. G. Wilby

141

1

0

J. I. Wilkinson

125

10

N. Mills

140

½

½

S. Pickard

122

11

P. Dobber

136

1

0

N. Mills

124

12

W. R. P. Taylor

136

1

0

R. Fenton

121

Totals

8

4

Krzyzanowski vs Mackle in foreground.

Steve Homer (W) heading for a tough time against newcomer Matthew Payne.

George Crockart (W) made light of his 19 point grading deficit against Alan Brusey.

The arrival of June brings the British Championships that bit closer, as they return to the Westcountry next month, starting at the Riviera Centre, Torquay, on 28th July. The fact that this will be the 100th championship makes it that bit more special, and extra events have been organised to help mark the occasion, several of them quite unusual. For example, Gary Lane and Keith Arkell, past and present Paignton residents, will try to set a record for the greatest number of games played in 1 hour. The rate of moves is 1 minute per player per game, called “bullet chess”. Then 9 players will take part in an all-play-all simultaneous match, using 36 boards and there will be a prize for the player gaining the highest points total in all the tournaments he/she plays in, which, in theory, could be considerable.

Peter Chaplin of Weston-Super-Mare was Somerset’s only winner in their recent match against Lancashire.

Saturday was scheduled as the quarter-final round of the National Stages of the Inter-counties tournament, with several West of England teams featuring in the various sections. Devon were drawn against Middlesex in the U-180 section and they met under the shadow of Old Sarum, near Salisbury. Devon players were hampered by the County Show traffic, causing a delayed start and one player misunderstanding the start time, all of which contributed to their 6–10 loss. However, the match was closer than the score suggested and several games could have gone either way. Devon’s three winners were Kevin Hurst, Mark Abbott and John Fraser. Here is the win on Board 4, with notes based on those kindly supplied by the winner.

White: K. J. Hurst (176). Black: A. Fulton (178).

Caro-Kann – by transposition. [B15]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 c6 4.Nc3 d5 5.e5 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 e6 8.Be3 Qa5 If 8…Qb6 9.0–0–0 still with advantage to White in space and development. 9.Be2 Nd7 10.0–0 a6 11.a3 c5 12.b4 cxb4 13.axb4 Qd8 14.b5 White toyed with the sacrifice 14.Nxd5 exd5 15.Qxd5 after which might have followed 15…Qc7 16.Bf3 Rb8 17.e6 fxe6 18.Qxe6+ and Black’s king is stuck in the centre and struggling. e.g. If 18…Ne7 19.Bg5 Nb6 20.Rfe1 Nbc8. 14…a5 15.b6 White offers a pawn in order to open up lines on the queenside. 15…Ne7 16.Nb5 0–0 17.Rfb1 Nc6 18.c3 White takes care to consolidate his centre before continuing with his attack 18…Nxb6 19.Qg3 h6 20.Bd3 Ne7 21.Nd6 Qc7 22.Bd2 Rfb8 23.Qh4! Having tied up most of Black’s piece-power on the queenside, White exploits his flexibility by switching quickly to the other wing. 23…Nf5 24.Bxf5 exf5 25.Bxh6 Bxh6 26.Qxh6 Nc8?? A blunder that loses immediately. Ne8 threatening both the queen and mate. 1–0. Black’s best chance was 26…Nc4! but it would still be a struggle after 27.Nxc4 Qxc4 28.Rb6 Ra6 29.Rab1 Rxb6 30.Rxb6 with a breakthrough planned on e6.

In the Open Section Somerset lost 5½-10½ to Lancashire, Mike Richardt and Peter Chaplin being their only winners. In the Minor Counties section, Gloucestershire lost by the same score to Lincolnshire, with Daniel Lambourne and Matthew Claypole being their only winners.

(NB: Please note that since going to press, it was ascertained that Richardt did lose his game, but his opponent was subsequently found to be ineligible. So, for the purposes of the match, the result of that game was reversed and Lancashire penalised an additional point. However, for grading purposes, Richardt’s loss will stand.)

Hants had a walkover against Warwickshire in the U-140s.

In last week’s position, World Champion Anand had no choices in losing to 1.Qxf7+ RxQ 2.Ng6+ Kg8 3.Rh8 mate.

Here is reader Dave Howard’s latest composition, hitherto unpublished. There are several mates in 3, but can you spot the only 2 move mate?

The snow-delayed match between Somerset and Gloucestershire was finally played at Cheltenham last weekend, resulting in a win for the visitors by 11-5. Somerset thereby won the 1st Division of the WECU Inter-county competition (the Harold Meek Cup) and now go forward to the National Stage Quarter-Finals to meet Lancashire at Bloxwich in a fortnight.

Somerset resident Mickey Adams is currently playing in the Alekhine Memorial Tournament and after 5 rounds was lying 2nd jointly with Boris Gelfand, Lev Aronian and Laurent Fressinet a half point behind Vachier-Lagrave.

In last week’s position, Evans played 1.Bc6! offering his queen, but if taken he had 2.RxB mate, and Black can’t take the rook because his queen is pinned.

Here is an Adams finish from 1998. How did Black (to move) force resignation with a 2-move combination?

The final scheduled round of the Inter-County competition was held on Saturday. Devon managed to get out a strong side and cruised past Gloucestershire at West Buckland, winning 11½-4½. The details were as follows (Devon names first):-

Apparently, the Hants vs Dorset match was not played due to a misunderstanding over the start time – another disruption to this season’s carefully planned programme of matches.

(Since going to press, it’s emerged that the Dorset team turned up at the venue for a 1 p.m. start, as defined in an e-mail, by the Dorset captain. As no Hants players had shown by 2 p.m. Dorset left for home. 5 minutes later, Hants players started arriving for a 2.30 start. Sodd’s Law, once again demonstrating that if a thing can go wrong, it probably will.)

The West of England Congress at Exmouth starts a week on Friday and the entry limit is almost reached. Enquiries about late entries to Alan Crickmore on 01752-768206 or e-mail plymouthchess@btinternet.com.

Last week’s problem was solved by under-promoting the pawn to a bishop, forcing Black’s king to d8 and then Rd4 is mate.

The British Solving Championship was held recently at Eton College, and was won by Colin McNab ahead of the usual winners, Nunn and Mestel. Paignton’s Jon Lawrence came a respectable 13th out of 35 competitors. This one, by Charles Kemp, was one of the three 2-movers in the competition, worth 5 points each. It was first published in Plymouth’s Western Daily Mercury in 1919.